Guiding Light for Animals

12/20/2025

Dear Santa Claws, please stop listening to the lumber industry.

Signed, the Barred Owls.



12/18/2025

🦔 The Porcupine: I CANNOT SHOOT MY QUILLS.


🛡️ The Scenario: The Passive Defender
Porcupines are the ultimate pacifists of the forest. They have no interest in conflict and move at a leisurely, waddling pace. Their defense system is entirely reactive; it only functions when a predator (or a curious dog) initiates physical contact.

I CANNOT SHOOT MY QUILLS.

That is a cartoon myth. I only release quills if you touch me. If your dog gets quilled, it’s because he bit me; I did not attack him. I am slow and peaceful.

📰 FIELD REPORT: The Mechanics of the Quill
Angle: Why a "defensive" weapon is often mistaken for an "offensive" one.

[BIOLOGICAL EVALUATION] A porcupine possesses roughly 30,000 quills. These are actually modified hairs coated in thick plates of keratin with microscopic, backward-facing barbs at the tip. They are held loosely in the skin, but they require physical pressure to be "driven" into an attacker. There is no muscle or mechanism in a porcupine’s body that allows it to eject a quill through the air.

THE ANATOMY OF A MISUNDERSTOOD ENCOUNTER
1. The "Contact-Only" Defense
The Slap: When threatened, a porcupine will turn its back, tuck its head, and lash its powerful tail. If the tail hits an attacker, the quills are driven into the skin. To a human observer, the speed of the tail flick can look like "shooting," but it is actually a physical strike.

The Latch: Because of the barbs, once a quill enters the warm tissue of a dog's muzzle, it expands slightly and hooks in. It is the victim's own movement that pulls the quill out of the porcupine and deeper into themselves.

2. The Gentle Herbivore Lifestyle
Solitary and Slow: Porcupines spend most of their lives alone, high in the canopy or tucked in rock crevices, eating bark, twigs, and leaves. They have very poor eyesight and rely on smell and touch. They aren't "hunting" for trouble; they are just looking for their next meal of pine needles.

The Warning Signs: Before any contact occurs, a porcupine will give clear warnings: it will chatter its teeth, emit a strong musky odor, and raise its quills to look larger. A dog that gets quilled has usually ignored every one of these "stop" signs.

3. The Salt Craving (The Real Conflict)
Human Interactions: Like deer, porcupines crave sodium. In the American wilderness, they may chew on canoe paddles, wooden tool handles, or even car tires because of the salt residue from sweat or road treatments. This "nuisance" behavior is just a search for essential minerals.

🤝 Our Duty: Supervision and Boundaries
Protecting your pets and respecting porcupines requires human intervention and training.

The Action: Respect the Waddling Pace.

Leash in the Woods: The best way to prevent a "quilling" is to keep your dog on a leash in wooded areas, especially at dawn and dusk when porcupines are most active on the ground.

The "Leave It" Command: Training your dog to have a strong "leave it" response can save you thousands in vet bills. If your dog corners a porcupine, their instinct is to bite—you must provide the override.

Proper Vet Care: If your pet is quilled, do not cut the quills. This makes them harder to remove and can cause them to splinter. Seek a veterinarian immediately, as they often need to sedate the animal to remove the barbs safely.

Give Space: If you see a porcupine waddling across your path, simply stop and wait. They are slow; give them the 30 seconds they need to climb a tree or move into the brush.

A porcupine is a peaceful neighbor in a suit of armor. By understanding that they don't attack, but simply exist, we can better protect our pets and appreciate these ancient forest dwellers.

12/18/2025

🦌 The Deer and the Spiked Fence: The Deadly Obstacle

The Scenario: The Fatal Jump
Deer, especially White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus), are driven by instinct to traverse their territory to find food, water, or mates. When they encounter rigid, sharp fences, they often attempt to jump them. A slight miscalculation, particularly in low light or when startled, can lead to impalement or severe lacerations.

The Danger: The Sharp Barrier (Wrought Iron or Low Barbed Wire)

Effect: Impalement, Deep Wounds, Infection, Agony.

🩸 The Reality: The Price of Ornamentation and Neglect
The problem isn't the deer's behavior; it's the design of the fence. Ornamental fences designed for aesthetics or security often have deadly features for wildlife.

1. The Miscalculation of the Leap (The Hidden Angle):
Impaling Danger: Wrought iron fences often terminate in sharp, spear-like points. If a deer clears the fence but its hind legs don't make it, or if it slips, the points can pe*****te the torso, neck, or groin, leading to immediate, fatal impalement or massive bleeding.

Laceration Hazard: Old, saggy, or low-strung barbed wire is a major danger, causing deep cuts and tears to the legs and abdomen during a panicked attempt to jump or crawl through. These deep wounds are almost always fatal due to infection and massive blood loss, even if the deer escapes the immediate area.

Silent Suffering: A deer wounded by a fence will typically flee and hide, suffering a prolonged, agonizing death from infection (sepsis) or internal injury, making rescue impossible.

2. Why Mitigation is Essential:
Conflict of Territory: As human development encroaches on natural corridors, deer are forced to move through residential and commercial areas. Fences are unavoidable parts of their new routes. The responsibility for safe passage falls on the property owner.

The Economic Cost: Dealing with an impaled or severely wounded animal requires emergency response (animal control, police), veterinary care, or carcass removal, which carries both an emotional and financial toll on the community.

🤝 Our Duty: Design for Coexistence
The solution is simple and often involves low-cost modifications to existing structures.

Action: Modify or Cover the Spikes: Protect Passing Wildlife!

The Solution: Smooth Fences or Protective Caps.

Result: Safe Passage, Harmless Coexistence.

Practical Steps:
Remove the Points: For ornamental wrought iron, use a grinder to blunt the sharp tips, or install protective caps (plastic or rubber covers) over the spear points. This mitigates the impalement risk without changing the fence's purpose.

Raise the Wire: If using barbed wire, ensure the lowest strand is high enough for animals to pass underneath comfortably, and the top strand is high enough for a deer to clear it entirely during a jump (or ideally, use smooth wire or wood railing for the top strand).

Visibility: Place visible deterrents (like white flags or reflectors) on low or hard-to-see fences, especially near known wildlife paths, to help deer perceive the barrier before attempting a jump in low light.

Your fence is a necessary boundary, but it shouldn't be a death trap. A simple cap or a smoother design can turn a lethal obstacle into a harmless detour.

12/18/2025

⛰️ The Mountain Lion (The "Stalker"): I AM NOT A MONSTER. I AM CORNERED.

The Scenario: The Constriction of Territory
Mountain Lions, or pumas, require vast territories and unbroken wildlife corridors to hunt and disperse, especially young males seeking their own range. In many western regions, suburban sprawl has consumed the foothills and canyons, replacing natural corridors with housing, roads, and security fences. This severely restricts the lion's movements, pushing it into the narrow, fragmented margins of its former home.

Quote: "I am not a monster. I am cornered. I move along your fences because the wildlife corridor is blocked. The wide canyon I roamed is now a subdivision."

Situation: A Mountain Lion crouching on a natural hill, its gaze sweeping over the sprawling, brightly lit subdivision below, symbolizing the loss of its domain.

🔪 The Reality: The Pressure of Fragmentation
A Mountain Lion is genetically programmed to avoid human contact, but when its traditional paths are obstructed, and its prey base is stressed, close encounters become inevitable.

1. The Loss of the Corridor (The Hidden Angle):
Territorial Imperative: Pumas require some of the largest home ranges of any terrestrial mammal in North America. They use valleys, riverbeds, and ridgelines as crucial movement corridors.

The Cul-de-Sac Effect: When development builds up to the edge of protected land, installing solid walls, tall fences, and high-speed roads, these corridors become deadly cul-de-sacs. The lion literally cannot pass safely to the next wild area.

Forced Movement: The phrase "I move along your fences" highlights the animal's attempt to find the path of least resistance—the fragmented edges of human development—leading it directly past backyards and homes.

2. Prey and Predation Conflict:
Deer Magnet: Subdivisions often attract the Mountain Lion's primary prey, the White-Tailed Deer, as manicured lawns and non-native plants provide easy grazing. The lion follows its food source, pushing it deeper into residential areas.

The Perception of Threat: The lion is naturally crepuscular (active at dawn and dusk). When a lion, seeking cover, encounters a yard or deck, it is often viewed as "stalking," when it is merely using the last available cover before daylight.

3. The Genetic Cost:
Inbreeding: The most severe consequence of blocked corridors is genetic isolation. Pumas, like those in the Santa Monica Mountains near Los Angeles, become trapped by freeways (like the 405 or 101). This lack of genetic exchange leads to high rates of inbreeding, significantly weakening the population's health and increasing the risk of extinction.

🤝 Our Duty: Reconnecting the Landscape
The message calls for infrastructure planning and land use practices that prioritize wildlife movement over total human exclusion.

The Action: Support Corridor Preservation and Creation.

Wildlife Crossings: The most crucial measure is building wildlife overpasses or underpasses over major, isolating highways to allow genetic exchange and safe passage.

Responsible Fencing: In areas bordering wildlands, use wildlife-permeable fencing (e.g., woven wire or designs that allow low passage) instead of solid walls that create impassable barriers.

Secure Attractants: As with bears, securing pet food and ensuring domestic animals (pets and livestock) are secured at night prevents the lion from associating human property with an easy meal.

My survival demands space. Your development erased my path. If you do not preserve the corridors, my only choice is the narrow margin between your homes.

12/18/2025

🦊 The Coyote: I AM NOT STALKING. I AM ESCORTING.


🐾 The Scenario: The Invisible Boundary
During the pup-rearing season (typically spring and early summer), coyotes (Canis latrans) become hyper-aware of their territory. If you find a coyote following you at a distance in a park or on a trail, you have likely unknowingly approached their den. They aren't closing in for an attack; they are "es**rting" a perceived threat out of their nursery zone.

I AM NOT STALKING. I AM ESCORTING.

If I follow you in the spring, I’m not hunting you. I’m making sure you walk away from the den where my pups are hidden. I am a protective parent.

📰 FIELD REPORT: The "Shadowing" Instinct
Angle: Understanding the difference between a predator and a bodyguard.

[BIOLOGICAL EVALUATION] Coyotes are highly devoted parents. From April through August, the den is the center of their world. "Es**rting" (or shadowing) is a defensive tactic used to ensure that large intruders—like humans or domestic dogs—keep moving until they are a safe distance away from the vulnerable pups.

THE ANATOMY OF COYOTE PROTECTION
1. The Es**rt vs. The Hunt
Body Language: A hunting coyote is silent, low to the ground, and tries to remain unseen. An "es**rting" coyote is visible, stands tall, and may occasionally "huff" or bark. It wants you to know it is there so that you keep moving away.

The Distance: They generally maintain a consistent "buffer zone." If you stop, they stop. If you move away, they follow until you cross an invisible boundary line, at which point they will vanish back into the brush.

2. Why Dogs Trigger the Behavior
The Canine Rival: Coyotes view domestic dogs as direct competitors or threats to their pups. If you are walking a dog, a coyote is much more likely to es**rt you because they perceive the dog as a fellow predator that might discover the den.

3. The Misinterpretation of Fearlessness
Tolerance, Not Aggression: Because coyotes have adapted to urban American environments, they are less likely to bolt at the sight of a human. This lack of "flight" is often mistaken for "boldness" or "stalking," when it is actually just a calm, calculated monitoring of your movements.

🤝 Our Duty: Respecting the Denning Season
Coexisting with coyotes requires understanding their seasonal priorities and maintaining the "wild" boundaries.

The Action: Keep Moving and Keep Control.

Don't Panic: If a coyote follows you, do not run. Running can trigger a chase instinct. Simply continue walking calmly away from the area.

Leash Your Dogs: This is the #1 rule for coyote safety. A dog on a leash is under your protection; an off-leash dog is a threat that the coyote may feel forced to engage with to protect its pups.

Hazing (If Necessary): If the coyote gets too close (closer than 30-40 yards), be big and loud. Wave your arms and shout "Go away, Coyote!" This reinforces their natural fear of humans.

Seasonal Awareness: Be extra vigilant during spring and early summer. If you see a coyote in the same spot every day, you are likely near a den—consider changing your route for a few weeks.

A coyote’s shadow is not a threat; it’s a fence. By walking away, you respect the parent's duty to keep their family safe.

12/18/2025

The One Who Remembers the Way

He looks at you
as if he has known you
before your first name,
before your fear learned language.

The wind has lived in his mane for centuries.
You can see it—
the way each strand carries a story
not spoken,
only endured.

His face is marked
with lines older than maps,
curving like rivers
that never forgot the sea.
These are not decorations.
They are prayers
pressed gently into flesh.

The elders say
the horse was born between worlds—
one hoof in the visible,
one hoof in spirit.
That is why he does not rush.
That is why he waits
until your breath remembers
how to be honest.

He carries no saddle,
no command,
only the quiet agreement
between heart and horizon.
When you stand before him,
your past does not chase you.
It listens.

Leaves gather in his shadow,
recognizing kin.
Even the silence bends closer.
The earth lowers its voice
when he breathes.

If you ask him for strength,
he will give you steadiness.
If you ask him for direction,
he will give you stillness
until the answer rises on its own.

He does not move you forward.
He reminds you
that you were never lost.

And when you turn away,
something ancient inside you
walks differently—
as if a forgotten path
has quietly opened
beneath your feet.
🎨Artist and the storyteller : Elvis Becker

12/16/2025

Did you know that trees can recognize you when you hug them? It might sound surprising, but trees, like all living beings, are capable of feeling and responding to the energy around them. When you hug a tree, you’re not just connecting physically, but emotionally too. Trees have an intricate network of roots and a unique energy that, in many ways, allows them to sense and remember the presence of those who care for them.

This bond with nature is something deeply spiritual. In a world where we often feel disconnected from the natural world, hugging a tree can be a grounding experience. It’s a simple act that reminds us of the importance of nature in our daily lives and the peace that can be found in the stillness of the outdoors. Trees are living, breathing organisms, and by engaging with them, we honor their quiet presence in our world.

So the next time you find yourself walking in the woods or tending to a garden, take a moment to embrace a tree. Feel its energy, connect with its strength, and recognize that you are a part of something greater. In the arms of nature, we are all connected. 🌳💚

12/16/2025

Sit with the animals quietly….

12/15/2025

THE BARRED OWL ISN'T INVADING, SHE'S ADAPTING TO FORESTS WE DESTROYED. DON'T PUNISH HER FOR SURVIVING, WE MADE THIS MESS.

11/15/2025

“If you talk to the animals, they will talk with you, and you will know each other." These powerful words from Chief Dan George remind us of the sacred bond between humans and animals. The wisdom of the Earth calls for respect and understanding, not just from humans but for the creatures who walk this land. 🐺

To live in harmony with nature means to listen, learn, and grow alongside it. We must nurture the world around us, recognizing the deep intelligence that exists within all living beings. 🌿

11/15/2025